The sun that day was so blinding it felt almost like a warning, bleaching the sky into a hard white glare. “Don’t go in there, honey. That place isn’t for you,” Kate kept hearing in her head, over and over, like an old record stuck in a groove.
She kept smoothing down her simple cotton dress with the tiny blue flowers, feeling painfully out of place amid all that polished city wealth. Her fingers, pale with nerves, gripped the handle of her worn handbag so tightly her knuckles ached.
At the bottom of that bag lay a thin sheet of medical paper that seemed to tremble in time with her heartbeat. It was the official result from that morning’s ultrasound, confirming with clinical certainty that she wasn’t carrying one baby, but three.
Mike held her hand, trying to look steady, but Kate could feel the sweat gathering in his palm. He was scared of this meeting, and his fear passed straight into her.
His father, Richard Grant, was the kind of man who kept not only business rivals on edge, but his own family too. The moment Kate stepped into his sprawling house, she felt the heavy air of money and control press down on her chest.
“Dad, we need to talk,” Mike said, his voice sounding thin in the huge office lined floor to ceiling with dark wood. Richard didn’t even bother to look up from the financial reports spread across his desk, as if every minute of his time came with a price tag.
“If this is about that girl from the farm again, we’re done here, Mike,” his father said flatly. He reminded his son that the wedding to the mayor’s daughter had already been planned and was set for exactly one month away.
“I can’t do that, Dad. Kate’s pregnant. We’re having triplets,” Mike said, barely above a whisper.
The room went still. Even the grandfather clock in the corner suddenly seemed loud.
Richard slowly removed his gold-rimmed glasses, rose from his leather chair, and looked at Kate for the first time that evening. His stare was cold, sharp, and deliberate.
“Triplets?” he repeated, with a dry, ugly smile. “So this is the plan? Show up with numbers and expect my family to fold?”
He took a step toward her. “Did you really think that if you planted yourself in our lives, I’d just write you a check for a million dollars?”
“I love your son,” Kate said quietly, fighting the lump rising in her throat.
“Love?”
